Somniloquy
by s1ncer1ty
Summary: Ever since he was a young lad, Kili had been known to talk in his sleep.


The Lonely Mountain was finally within reach. Darkness had fallen swiftly - as had the exhausted band of dwarves, for there was no song or banter that night. The Company had barely escaped with their lives, fleeing first from a thrumming hive of goblins, followed by an attack by vicious orcs and their wargs. They had nearly lost their rightful King. It was time for a well-deserved rest for all, and it would be hours yet before Fili would need to rouse another to take the next watch.

With a dry stick, Fili prodded at the embers of the fire warming his feet and debated whether he should venture forth to find more wood, when Kili's voice, thick with sleep, reached his ears.

"Fili?"

He turned an eye from the fire to his brother, who up until now had been slumbering in peace at his side, his cloak draped over him like a blanket and closer than usual after the trying events of the day. "What is it, brother?"

"Thorin's in the strawberries again."

In spite of himself, Fili bit back a chuckle, a smirk of amusement playing upon his lips at the absurdity. Ever since he was a young lad, Kili had been known to talk in his sleep. It was pure nonsense, always, and the lad never recalled anything the following morning when confronted. "And what, pray tell, is he doing in the strawberries this time?"

"Frolicking."

Finding it harder to suppress a wave of laughter, Fili clamped a hand overtop his mouth. "Tell me why he's frolicking, indeed," he managed after a turn to compose himself.

"D'nno," murmured Kili, rolling away and pulling his cloak tighter about his shoulders. "But you'd better catch him before he floats away." With that, Kili drifted back into the arms of slumber, his breathing steadying out into a light snore.

Fili stared long into the flickering fire, willing himself to keep the laughter at bay. He would have no shortage of fodder for taking the piss out of Kili when the sun arose. He imagined Kili's indignant face the following morning, sputtering as he denied all accounts of such fancy (At the same time, he struggled desperately to keep at bay the visions of their stern uncle dancing in a field full of fruit). The Company was exhausted, and it would provide a respite of much-needed humor, even if it came at Kili's expense.

The silence seemed to stretch for hours, the stars barely seeming to shift from their position in the night's sky, but at some point Kili spoke again, his voice now tremulous. "Fili?"

Fili frowned as his gaze shifted from the fire to his brother. "Mmh. What is it now?"

"I'm afraid."

Fili peered down at his younger brother's back. Unable to see his face, he could not tell if he was still asleep; his breathing was heavy and even, but his voice had sounded so lucid. "What pains you, Kili?"

"Orcs. Wargs." He shuddered beneath the wrap of his cloak. "Dying."

"Don't be a fool," said Fili shortly. "You'll not die. Not tonight, at any rate. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"You don't know. We've already faced trolls. Goblins. Stone giants. Any one of them could have taken our lives in an instant."

"And yet they didn't," said Fili, wondering if he should even bother to attempt to reassure his younger sibling. What good would it do to assuage his fears if he would not even recall the conversation when he awoke? After a moment's deliberation, he continued anyway. "We're a strong people, we dwarves. It'll take more than a few puny goblins to take us down."

"Thorin was so close. He almost _died_. It could have been any one of us."

"There are bigger things to be afraid of, brother," said Fili, keeping his voice gentle, even as dread prickled at the back of his neck at the memory. "Imagine Thorin frolicking in a patch of strawberries."

Kili rolled toward his brother, then, and teetered himself up on his elbows, pure confusion clouding his features. Fili could not tell if the glaze over Kili's dark eyes stemmed from slumber or the reflection of the fire. "_What_?"

Fili dropped a reassuring hand to Kili's shoulder and gently pushed him back to the ground. "It's nothing. Go back to sleep. You'll be the first I awaken, should there be trouble."

Kili let a ghost of a smile flicker across his face before he closed his eyes once more, contented for the time being. "You're a good pony, Fili," he mumbled as sleep swiftly claimed him.

With a soft breath that wasn't quite a sigh, Fili drew one of his blades into his lap, his fingers wrapping tightly around the pommel, even though there was no imminent danger to be seen. He'd made a promise to Kili. He would keep his brother safe - he would keep all of them safe, holding the looming specter of death at sword's length for the time being.

And perhaps - just this once - he would refrain from teasing his brother the following morning.


End file.
